


Keeping Quiet

by Captain_Lexa (orphan_account)



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4750331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Captain_Lexa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one made it to the Isle of the Lost by being a good person. They were all callous villains without much care for anyone else. Not many of them knew true love, and those who did despised it. Perhaps that’s why not many of them ever recieved a soulmate mark. Many of the villains went their whole lives without ever meeting someone they were fated to be with. Carlos wished he was so lucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preface

No one made it to the Isle of the Lost by being a good person. They were all callous villains without much care for anyone else. Not many of them knew true love, and those who did despised it. Perhaps that’s why not many of them ever recieved a soulmate mark. Many of the villains went their whole lives without ever meeting someone they were fated to be with. Carlos wished he was so lucky.

At age ten, he was awoken by a sharp pain on the back of his hand. It had felt like little, tiny needles repeatedly puncturing his skin, but thankfully didn’t last long. All it left behind was a slight burn, urging Carlos to take a peaksie. When he did finally look, there was just a single word inked into his flesh… “Chocolate?”

Carlos could remember groaning loudly and burying his face back in the pillow below, too tired to do much else. Chocolate?? What did “chocolate” even mean? What was that, someone’s name? He had never expected to get a mark, but if he had, he at least hoped it would make sense. Did his soulmate even speak English?? Or was he from somewhere on the other side of the world, that Carlos would never get to travel to anyway? Fortunately, his brain didn’t give him much of a chance to go into overload at the news, and he was soon drifting back off to sleep without too much more frustration. (Though, admittedly, his last thought was probably something cursing his soulmate.)

The next day, when he showed it to his mom, she was far from happy. She had taken him by the arm and dragged him away from the table of villains and their children. As soon as they had some privacy she was scolding him, as if it was his fault he got the mark. As if he would have ever asked for something so stupid! Roughly, Cruella wrapped his wrist until the cloth bit into his skin. The slight pain was nothing compared to the feeling radiating from the word, though. It itched under the wrap, begging to be taken off, and Carlos would lie if he said he didn’t struggle. He was only ten years old, and when that piece of him was covered, it felt like the wrap was over his face. He was sure he was breathing fine; no one ever said anything to make him think any different. But he never felt like he could truly catch his breath when the word was covered.

What was he to do though? His mother told him how others on the Island would see the mark as a weakness. She told him that they would use it against him, how they would use it to hurt him because no one hated true love more than villains. So he kept it covered. Years passed and Carlos grew a large collection of fingerless gloves– a fashionably acceptable way to keep the mark hidden. He never spoke of it to anyone except Evie, who came to him nearly a year after his first appeared, when she got one of her own.

And unlike Carlos, Evie was actually excited about having a soulmate. She tried to play it off, as if the words written across the arch of her foot meant nothing, but Evie wasn’t a very good liar. Carlos could always see right through her. Still, the two of them kept their marks a secret. They’d cover them in public and around family and what not, but as soon as they had the chance– they’d take off the glove or the stockings covering them. And it was only ever in those moments that Carlos felt he could finally breathe freely. Of course, that much he would never share with anyone. Never would he ever let anyone know he had a mark, or just how much it truly meant to him.

In fact, if he had anything to say about it, Carlos would never meet his soulmate. If he had it his way, he would wake up tomorrow with the skin on the back of his right hand as bare as the skin on the left. 

Yeah, if only, if only….


	2. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one made it to the Isle of the Lost by being a good person. They were all callous villains without much care for anyone else. Not many of them knew true love, and those who did despised it. Perhaps that’s why not many of them ever recieved a soulmate mark. Many of the villains went their whole lives without ever meeting someone they were fated to be with. Carlos wished he was so lucky.

There were a lot of things Carlos could handle. For example, having a big, scary villain as a mother was do-able. Acting as his mother’s personal servant was, less desirable, of course, but none the less do-able. Hell, even being known as some callous, low-life hood on an island of people who should have been the last to judge was a walk in the park. The fallout of discovering his soulmate; however, wasn’t so easily brushed aside.

The day had started similarly to any other: running about the island and stirring things up for the mere sake of entertainment. Then, of course, Maleficent decided to bless (curse) him and his friends with an appearance. Despite seeing the devilish woman on a near daily basis, she still put him on edge. Just standing in her presence seemed to rob him of his voice, as if she were Ursula and he were that weird, mute mermaid. She just had that chilling affect on people, villains included. It was only natural that Carlos would try to fade into the background then, only making himself known when she dropped the bomb.

“You four have been chosen to go to a different school… in Auradon!” She had exclaimed. Yeah, great news. It took Carlos all of one second to throw himself into the arms of one of her goons, trying to run away from even the idea of going there. The place had dogs! And not the stuffed, harmless kind that his mother wore around her neck. It had real live, boy eating dogs! Why was no one else concerned by that?? The only person that seemed to be even remotely on his side was his own mother.

When she said she’d miss him, there was this odd sort of warmth that went through him. He had smiled at the unusually sweet words, but of course even that couldn’t last. Cruella went on to list all the chores Carlos would be unable to fulfill while he was away, which only served to weaken his own resolve. "Maybe a new school wouldn’t be the worst thing.“ He had thought aloud, feeling rather deflated all of the sudden.

It was all down hill from then on. When their driver arrived, Carlos had practically launched himself into the back of the escort vehicle, just managing to slip out of his mother’s grasp. True, dogs were easily the scariest things on the face of the planet, but his mother’s bunions weren’t too far behind. At least in the car there was a crazy amount of candy. Some of it he recognized, but most of it was foreign. Above all though, the soft, brown pieces that somehow managed to be both salty and sweet were his favorite. Carlos would go as far to say he ate enough, before they arrived, to easily make it through to dinner.

His face was covered in the residue of the sweets when the vehicle came to a stop just outside the school’s main entrance. It was something he’d probably be more concerned with if he 1) cared what the preppies of Auradon thought of him or 2) wasn’t currently wrestling with Jay for some fabric they had found in the car. In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have expected to hold his own against the most muscular kid in their group.

Carlos fell out the car door with no grace whatsoever, ignoring the band he could hear playing just a few feet away as he struggled against the other boy. “You got everything else! Why do you want whatever this is??” He demanded, voice strained as a boot pressed down on his small chest.

“Because you want it!” Jay had answered, spurring on the fight as the students clamored to a stop around them– no doubt gawking at their poor behavior.

The pair had only put it to rest when Mal stepped forward with a plastered on smile. “Guys! We have an audience.”

Following her lead, Jay sent the old lady in front a smile, reluctantly helping Carlos to his feet. "Just… cleaning up.” He assured their gathered crowd with purely feigned innocence. Carlos just wished he could lean over and give him a nice swat to the back of the head.

Instead he simply glowered at the boy, letting everyone else get themselves acquainted. He listened vaguely of course, but allowed the others to take the lead. For now, he would just sit back, licking the remnants of sweets off his fingers. It was a plan he was quite pleased with until Ben came into the picture.

The prince had stepped forward to introduce himself, bringing everyone’s attention to him and the loud girl at his side. He was cute, possibly even the hottest guy Carlos ever had the pleasure of meeting, but that hardly meant much. Coming from an island of boys who rarely kept to a showering schedule, anything was an improvement. At least, Evie certainly seemed to think so. As soon as the word ‘prince’ had registered, she was sliding on up with that endearing smile of hers.

“You had me at prince,” The blue haired doll began with a curtsy. “My mom’s a queen, which makes me a princess.”

Carlos couldn’t help but throw Jay a look of skepticism, as if to say “Is she honestly, planning to get involved with Auradon’s number one golden boy? The boy whose kingdom we’re going to send crumbling down as soon as possible?” Everyone knew the girl was a romantic, sure, but no one expected her to be such an emotional masochist.

Regardless, Carlos could feel his skin prick in irritation as the annoying girl at Ben’s side rejected Evie’s rank. “The Evil Queen has no royal status here,” She informed them, smiling in an all too patronizing way. “And neither do you.” For a brief moment the group sat in silence, raised eyebrows and killer stares focused on the brunette. The very first rule of the Isle of the Lost children was that if Evie wanted to be a princess, then no one was going to treat her any differently. No exceptions.

It was an awkward laugh from the prince that eventually broke the silence, the boy trying his best to lighten the mood. “This is Audrey-” He began, only to be cut off by the same girl.

“-Princess… Audrey.” She had finished a little too smugly, taking Ben’s hand in her own. “His girlfriend. Right Benny-Boo?”

The whole thing was so sickeningly sweet, Carlos could practically feel the sweets churning in his stomach. Then again, maybe he just ate too much. Honestly, it was fifty-fifty.

“Ben and Audrey are going to show you all around. Then I’ll see you all tomorrow.” The Fairy Godmother informed them before taking both the kids’ hands in her own and holding them up towards the sky. “The doors of wisdom are never shut!” She had cheered, startling Carlos if only a little. Needless to say, he was glad to see her go– marching band trailing behind.

Ben, having had taken this as an invitation to take over, rushed to greet them. “It is so, so, so good to finally meet you all.” He assured the group, stuttering when Jay nudged his fist into his chest in greeting. It was from this distance Carlos could fully comprehend how tall the boy was, rising a few inches above even Jay. The sight was offensive to the youngest, who was trying his best to convince himself Ben really wasn’t that attractive.

There was a brief pause before the prince continued speaking, moving on down the line. “This is a momentous occasion, one that I hope will go down-” A breathy laugh interrupted his words as he withdrew his hand from Carlos’ shake, stained with some of the brown sweets, “, in history– chocolate?” He finished lamely, smiling in amusement down at Carlos. Carlos, whose brain had come to a screeching halt.

From his left, Evie gave a quiet gasp as she too made the connection. After all, she was the only one (aside from his mother) who knew exactly what was written on the back of his hand. Thankfully, the noise drew Ben’s attention away from Carlos, so he was free to go still– completely stunned by his own predicament. It was… it was him? Him?? Really?? As if Carlos needed anymore reason to believe whatever greater power there might be absolutely hated him. Like really hated him.

So completely flabbergasted, Carlos found he was unable to concentrate on anything that didn’t immediately pertain to Ben. His eyes tracked the boy’s every move, jaw slack as his mind went reeling. He wasn’t exactly sure how long he remained in this near comatose state before a set of hands clapped not too far from his face. 

“Okay, so how about a tour. Yeah?” Ben smiled charmingly, starting off towards the doors. Jay and Mal immediately followed, shooting confused looks over their shoulders at Evie and Carlos when they hesitated.

“You lucky cat! The prince is your soul-”

Cutting off her stage whisper with a quick shake of the head, Carlos stomped his foot indignantly. “How is this possibly lucky??” He demanded, voice matching hers in volume. “This is the opposite of lucky. In fact, I feel very un-lucky right now!” Turning on his heels, Carlos made for an escape, fully intent on marching inside the school and finding his room himself, just so he could hide under his bed for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, he didn’t make it too far before his eyes caught sight of this huge beast like statue, that so closely resembled a dog of all things! A horrified scream ripped from the boy’s throat, and he quickly threw himself into Jay’s arms. Logically, he knew the reaction was completely irrational, but he couldn’t help it. He was in a fragile state!

“Carlos, it’s okay.” Ben had assured him, smiling so sweetly. Part of Carlos was sure that face alone was plenty of reason to hate his pairing. “My father wanted the statue to morph from beast to man, to remind us that anything is possible.”

“Your father’s a liar and a sadist.” Carlos had wanted to whine, but instead he kept his eyes focused on the figure, as if he would pounce the moment the boy looked away. “He just wanted to give a bunch of kids a heart attack.”

Still, no one seemed impressed by his outburst, and he was immediately dropped back to his feet. Everyone continued on their way, leaving Carlos alone with the beast. Just looking at the thing, he could still feel his heart hammering away in his chest. His breath seemed to catch in his throat and he felt as if he would pass out if he couldn’t get a hold on it.

Hopeful, he clapped his hands together, just waiting for the thing to shift back to man. It didn’t. His cheeks burned shamefully when he stepped forward, first instincts telling him to run to Ben. “My soulmate. My protector” His heart cried, aching from what was turning out to be a truly horrible day.

Instead of listening, Carlos stilled himself and took off in the opposite direction. He ran and ran until his lungs burned, nameless faces swirling around him. All he knew was that he had to get away. He had to be alone.

Just as he was probably going to be for the rest of his life.


	3. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one made it to the Isle of the Lost by being a good person. They were all callous villains without much care for anyone else. Not many of them knew true love, and those who did despised it. Perhaps that’s why not many of them ever recieved a soulmate mark. Many of the villains went their whole lives without ever meeting someone they were fated to be with. Carlos wished he was so lucky.

Five minutes. That’s all the time Carlos had to collect himself before someone had stumbled upon his hiding place. Really, he was lucky to have even gotten that much; it wasn’t like he was being subtle. He had ran until he spotted a gazebo and then took shelter on the floor of it, chest rising and falling rapidly as he attempted to catch his breath.

“Carlos?” A voice had sounded behind him, causing Carlos to jump in surprise and scramble back against the nearest railing.

Standing in the archway was Jay, looking concerned as he stared down at the younger boy. Carlos was immediately calmed, exhaling deeply as he slumped in relief. If it were anyone else he’d of been made to spill all his little secrets.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” The younger was quick to assure his friend, voice absent as he still tried to recover from the shock of today. “I’m just... stressed. Like super stressed.” He frowned, gloved hands running over his face in aggravation.

“Yeah, we’re all a little on edge today.” Jay had agreed nicely enough, clunking over in his big boots before taking a seat on the floor next to Carlos. “But we all know that’s not why you’re freakin’ out on us. You don’t need to lie, dude.”

And then again, maybe it wasn’t such a good thing Jay was the one who followed after him. “How- how could you possibly know?” He demanded, feeling his heart starting to hammer in his chest. “Did Evie tell you?”

The look his friend had gave him now was all too pitying for Carlos’ taste. “No one had to tell us. It’s always been pretty obvious. I mean, you only get super weird any time anyone brings them up.”

Carlos frowned at the wording, glancing up towards his friend’s dark eyes. “What are you talking about?” He asked, brow drawing together in confusion. “I only just found out.”

Jay seemed at a loss at the words, obviously just as confused. “How’s that even possible?”

“Well I don’t know if I have to explain to you how it works, but-”

“Carlos, everyone’s known about your fear of dogs for pretty much ever.”

That was the moment he about just rolled over and gave up. “I’m.... Sorry, what now?” He asked, immediately schooling his features and rubbing awkwardly at that damned glove.

“Well, yeah man. Your mom makes them sound pretty gnarly, and you don’t exactly ‘keep your cool’ whenever someone brings them up. I mean, what was all that back there with the beast statue?”

Carlos heaved a huge sigh of relief, dropping his head to rest on top of his knees. “Yeah... yeah, that’s it.” The boy agreed, happy to have an excuse that would allow him to keep his secret hidden at least a little longer. “I was just already so stressed about this whole plan, and I wasn’t expecting that, okay?”

Being the good friend that he was, Jay gave a sympathetic nod, clapping Carlos just a little too hard on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. I’ve got your back, 110%. From any of these little losers or any of their big, scary statues.” Jay laughed at his own teasing, bringing a reluctant smile to Carlos’ grim face. Why couldn’t he of been lucky enough to have Jay as his soulmate instead? Sure he was a bit of a jerk at times, and he could definitely learn to shower more, but at least he cared about Carlos. Not to mention he was evil too. Never would their parents ever expect him to tear apart everything Jay loved and leave him in the ruins. ...Or maybe they would if they had what they thought was an evil enough reason, but they didn’t, did they?

Pushing aside those thoughts, Carlos moved to pull the older boy into a loose embrace. “Thanks, Jay.” He mumbled into his friend’s cut off, ignoring the way the gesture clearly made Jay a little uncomfortable-- leaning just a bit away.

“Any time, dude. ...Now, no offense, but get off me. Mal's probably about to come find us and kill us herself."

Carlos gave a small smile at what was probably supposed to be more of a joke than it was, allowing Jay to help him to his feet. "Yeah, yeah. If she kills anyone it'll be that Audrey girl... I hope."

It didn't take long for them to track down the rest of their little group, who were standing just at the entry point of the school. Fortunately it appeared Ben and his beloved girlfriend had already taken off, but they had left someone new in their place. Someone in a band uniform? Carlos looked to Evie for an explanation.

"This... is Doug." She pursed her lips, wearing that same expression she wore whenever something had not gone according to her plans. "He's supposed to be showing us around, but I think we got it."

There was an undeniable tension in the room as Carlos looked back and forth between the two. It was obvious something was amiss, just by Evie's tone of voice. Even Doug looked like he was suffering from it, mouth opening silently as he tried to formulate some kind of argument against their departure. Carlos waited for it, hoping it'd give him some sort of insight into what happened while him and Jay were away, but the conversation was cut short by Mal taking Evie's wrist.

"Thanks a lot for the help, little guy, but we can take it from here. Come on, guys. Let's go find our dorms."

Wordlessly they all followed the purple-haired girl, who more or less led Evie away by the hand.

"Oh, uh yeah! Your dorms are that way guys."

*

It wasn't until later in the night, when they were making their move on the Fairy God Mother's Wand, that Evie had managed to corner him.

They were supposed to of been splitting up, but just as Carlos moved to turn a corner, Evie grabbed at the neckline of his fur coat and yanked the freckled boy back to her side. "Um, hello?? Are we just going to pretend nothing happened earlier?"

Giving her his best smile, Carlos moved again towards the corner. "That's exactly what we're doing."

Evidently, that had been the wrong answer. Again being tugged by his coat, Carlos was placed right back at Evie's side with an annoyed huff. "Would you stop doing that??" He whispered loudly, immediately trying to right his appearance again. "There's nothing to talk about. Ben's taken, not to mention next in line for the throne of the kingdom we're about to overthrow. Call me crazy, but that doesn't exactly scream love to me."

Evie, however, refused to back down. Settling one of her more fiery stares on Carlos, she simply asked "How would you know?"

And yeah, okay ouch. That definitely hurt a bit, but it didn't change the facts. "Just drop it, E, okay? I know you're bummed about not finding your soulmates yet, but that doesn't mean you get to just live through me, alright? My mark is no one's business but my own." Sighing in aggravation, Carlos continued down their current hallway, Evie's quiet footsteps following not long after.

"And what if I did find one?"

Carlos' pace faltered slightly. "I- what? When??"

"When Jay ran off after you." She hesitated for a moment, gaze falling to the floor with a mirthless smile. "It's Doug."

"Doug?" He could hardly believe it, and he knew Evie probably wouldn't want to either. Ever since the princess had gotten her two marks, she would tell him about how she hoped one was Mal. And since she wasn't born with it, Carlos was willing to let her dream. The four of them had known each other since birth, so they couldn't possibly remember their first words to each other. Still, was it incredibly likely that Mal's first words to Eve were "Heigh ho" or "Hello gorgeous"? Admittedly... not at all, but it was still a possibility. One that Evie had fallen more and more in love with over the years, as she grew closer to her best friend. She had convinced herself that Mal would be her first soulmate and the other mark would belong to some handsome prince. It was a ridiculous dream, but who was Carlos to crush it?

"Just... just think about it this way, Evie. Even if Mal was your soulmate, who says you would have been hers? They call you and I late bloomers already, don't they? How likely do you think it is someone your guys' age is just going to suddenly sprout a mark?"

Evie replied immediately, seeming almost defensive at the question. "You're never too old to learn to love someone like that. Our parents... sure they taught us that being evil is what's right for us, and of course it is, but whose to say the princes and princesses have it entirely wrong?"

Carlos rolled his eyes at the suggestion, trying to fight the small part of him that wanted to agree. The same stupid, stupid part of him that opened him up to the kind of thing like a soulmate anyway. "I say so. They're just... they're just words on our skin, E. They don't have to mean anything."

If Evie believed him in even the smallest way possible, she didn't show it. "Sure, Car. Do you seriously think you're still going to feel that way the next time you see Ben, and he realizes your his soulmate?"

Just being referred to as Ben's... _that_ flooded Carlos with contrasting feelings of dread and a sort of happiness he was more than willing to blame completely on his mark. Even that wouldn't change his mind, though. Carlos refused to be side-tracked by the prince of Auradon, and there was only one way to ensure that. "He won't."

"How couldn't he? The words are-"

"He _can't_ have any words." Carlos interrupted the princess, licking his lips anxiously as they came to a sudden stop. "He can't have any words... if I never talk to him."

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this for myself, purely for the fun of it, but if anyone actually likes it, I’ll be happy to continue posting it. And I promise, this is just the preface. The chapters should be much longer.
> 
> P.S. With the way the boys acted with the sweets in the car at the beginning, I took it as the Island not having any chocolate or delicious goodies of their own. In this verse, it’s purely a mainland thing. So sorry, if that confuses anyone?


End file.
